xv, 245 pages ; 24 cm

Challenging the view that Mark was written as late as 65-75 CE, James Crossley argues instead for a date thirty years earlier, basing this conclusion on the internal evidence supplied by the gospel itself. After a concise overview of the external evidence, The Date of Mark's Gospel goes on to critically examine the arguments which place the writing of Mark around the time of the Jewish war, suggesting alternative historical contexts. This leads to a discussion of modern literary criticism of the gospel as a whole, outlining the main approaches and their protagonists. Crossley then shows that while the synoptic gospels all portray Jesus as a law-observant Jew, Mark in particular writes assuming that he observed biblical law fully. Arguing that such an assumption could only be made at a time when Christianity was largely law observant, the author offers a comprehensive examination of the evidence on laws provided in the gospel, concluding that this dates the composition of Mark to no later than the mid-40s

Revision of the author's thesis (Ph. D)--University of Nottingham

Includes bibliographical references (pages 210-224) and indexes

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